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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150837">In the Dark of Night</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fembuck/pseuds/fembuck'>fembuck</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Nun's Nest [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Warrior Nun (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Friends with Feelings, Pre-Femslash, Tenderness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:27:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,725</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150837</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fembuck/pseuds/fembuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sisters are on the run after having escaped from Vatican city. One night, after a few weeks on the move, Ava is having trouble getting to sleep, but luckily for her, Beatrice is there to offer help.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sister Beatrice/Ava Silva</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Nun's Nest [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824703</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1262</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the Dark of Night</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ava shifted around on the cheap motel mattress before huffing out a frustrated sigh as she settled down again. She was exhausted. She needed sleep. She wanted sleep. But sleep … would not come.</p><p><em>Stupid pillow</em>, Ava grumbled mentally as she propped herself up on her left hand and then used her right hand to punch at her pillow a few times in an attempt to get rid of the imaginary lumps that were keeping her awake.</p><p>She lay back down and tried to turn onto her side only to discover that all of her wiggling and tossing and turning had caused the sheets to tangle around her.</p><p><em>Stupid boa constrictor sheets</em>, she thought as she started aggressively tugging and yanking at the sheets while also kicking her feet for good measure as she attempted to escape from its treacherous poly-cotton confines.</p><p>That taken care of, Ava shifted onto her side, curled her body into a semi-fetal position, and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come. But … sleep did not come.</p><p>Ava exhaled sharply through her nose as her eyes opened again and she abandoned the fetal position she had been in and instead settled on her back, staring up at the ceiling, finally ready to admit to herself that the motel pillows, sheets, mattress, air-conditioning unit, and mini-fridge were not what was actually keeping her awake.</p><p>It was her brain that was the problem. Her stupid, noisy, brain was what was really keeping her awake. It just kept thinking, and wanting, and thinking, and imagining, and thinking, and yearning, and it was all very frustrating really. However, despite her mature decision to stop bullshitting herself, Ava found that she still couldn’t sleep.</p><p>She tucked her arm under her pillow, and lay still for a few seconds.</p><p>She shifted, positioning her arm over top of the pillow and rested her head against it.</p><p>She rolled onto her stomach and …</p><p>“Are you alright over there?”</p><p>Ava wiggled again so that she was lying on her side facing the motel room's second bed where Beatrice lay facing her. </p><p>Ava couldn’t make out Beatrice’s features in the dark of the room, but from the tone of her voice Ava knew that Beatrice’s lips were quirked up at the corners, smiling in that soft, fondly amused way that made Ava feel warm and tingly inside. </p><p>Ava loved that smile and as she and Beatrice spent more and more time around each other, Ava found herself devoting more and more of her mental energy to discovering ways to get Beatrice to smile that smile.</p><p>“That’s a … complicated question,” Ava sighed.</p><p>“Is it?” Beatrice asked, her bemused tone drawing a smile to Ava’s face in the darkness of the room.</p><p>It was truly embarrassing how deeply, endlessly charmed she was by Beatrice.</p><p>“Uh, yeah,” Ava began, “I mean, we’re on the run from … uh, everyone cause we blew up part of the Vatican,” she continued, easily beginning to list off the reasons why any sane person in her position would be a little preoccupied and find it difficult to sleep.  “Also there’s an evil angel wizard guy hunting us so that he can steal my Iron Man reactor. Not to mention that the Renfield he’s got helping him knows all about our strengths and weaknesses.” Ava paused for a moment to catch her breath. “Plus now you’ve all lost your home, and because of me you have to wear jeans and deceive people to maintain our cover, and now you can’t even sleep because …”</p><p>“Ava.”</p><p>Beatrice’s voice was calm and sure as always, and the sound of it calmed Ava, immediately halting her rambling response.</p><p>“Sorry,” Ava breathed out. “I’m just … restless,” she explained vaguely, trying really, really, really hard not to think about what she wanted, about what she knew would help calm her mind enough to actually be able to fall asleep.</p><p>“There’s no need to apologize,” Beatrice murmured, understanding and compassionate as she always was. “Is there anything I can do to help?”</p><p>Ava’s eyes closed upon hearing the question, emotion swelling inside of her. Beatrice was just so … and she made Ava feel so … and feeling that feeling was beautiful, and overwhelming, and Ava craved it, always wanting more.</p><p>So much of her life had been spent locked away, ignored, barely tolerated, and constantly berated. She’d had Diego, yes, but other than him it had felt to her like there was no one else in the world that cared whether she existed or not. The knowledge that there were now other people in the world that actually cared about her was still hard for Ava to truly wrap her head around. </p><p>“Could I, maybe ... bunk with you? For tonight?” Ava asked, jittery with nerves and grateful for the lack of light in the room because it hid her flushed cheeks from Beatrice.</p><p>There was a pause after Ava spoke, one that went on long enough that Ava was just about to declare that she’d just been joking when …</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Ava said softly before slipping off of her bed and padding barefoot across the small stretch of carpet that separated her bed from Beatrice’s.</p><p>Beatrice shifted backwards on the mattress to make room for Ava when the halo bearer reached the edge of the bed, and then she lifted up the sheet to allow Ava entry. Once Ava had settled herself onto the mattress, Beatrice then leaned over Ava’s, her front pressing intimately against Ava’s back as she covered Ava with the sheet. </p><p>“No,” Ava exclaimed, reaching out for Beatrice’s hand and grasping it tightly in an attempt to stop the other woman from drawing her body away. “Please, can you … stay … like that?” Ava asked, unable to bear the thought of losing the press of Beatrice’s body against hers now that she knew what it felt like to be spooned by her.</p><p>Beatrice’s arm around her, and the warmth of her body seeping into Ava’s was already easing the tension in her body, and Ava knew that this was what she had wanted all night, every night really, since they had been on the run and even back at ArqTech when the sound of Beatrice’s voice had been her most powerful tether to the world. She wanted to be close to Beatrice, and that wanting had only gotten stronger as time went on.</p><p>“You mean...holding you?” Beatrice asked softly, uncertain, and pressed against Ava’s back as she was, Beatrice’s breath caressed Ava’s bare shoulder and the sensation sent currents of electricity through Ava’s body that made her shiver with pleasure. “Oh,” Beatrice breathed a moment later, having felt Ava shiver, “you’re cold,” she concluded, and the tension that she had felt rising inside of her began to ease now that she had what she believed to be a sensible, rational explanation for Ava wanting to sleep in her bed.</p><p>Ava breathed in and out deeply before responding, trying to fight off the cowardly, flight response that made her want to just nod her head and mumble ‘yeah, uh huh, so cold’ before covering Beatrice’s hand with her own and keeping her wrapped around her as she drifted off to sleep.</p><p>After all, Beatrice had provided her with the perfect excuse to get what she wanted (sleeping in Beatrice’s warm, tender embrace) without embarrassing herself by having to verbalize the real reason she had asked (because Beatrice made her feel safe, like no one in the world had made her feel safe since her mother had died).</p><p>“That’s not why,” Ava breathed out, continuing the path of personal growth she had been on by not taking the easy way out and running away from her emotions. She was better than that, and Beatrice deserved better than that from her.</p><p>“I just … I feel better when you’re close by,” she continued, grateful that her back was facing Beatrice as she revealed her messy, embarrassing emotions. “Protected,” Ava whispered, “Safe … safe enough to sleep.”</p><p>Beatrice responded by shifting her body closer to Ava until they were pressed against each other again, and then she allowed her arm to come to a rest around Ava’s waist. Ava sighed softly, contently, as Beatrice settled against her, and Beatrice closed her eyes, calling upon all of the will-power relentlessly training had helped her develop in order to control her heart and her bodies reactions to being so physically close to Ava.</p><p>She’d been finding it increasingly difficult to resist the urge to touch Ava as they grew closer, time and experiences bonding them together more and more. A hand on Ava’s shoulder here, a brush of her fingers against Ava’s there. Her body had a will of its own and that will liked to tuck unruly strands of Ava’s hair behind her ear, and run a comforting hand down Ava’s arm, and to move her hand soothingly up and down Ava’s back when Ava sat beside her and leaned into her side, resting her head on Beatrice’s shoulder. Like a moth to a flame, Beatrice was drawn to her light.</p><p>Which meant that wrapped around Ava as she currently was, constant vigilance was necessary to ensure that she did not lose herself completely and press her nose into Ava’s hair to breath in the scent of her, or give into the temptation of Ava’s bare shoulder so close to her mouth and press a kiss to the soft, tanned skin as she yearned to do.</p><p>“Hey,” Ava said, covering the hand Beatrice had resting on her stomach with her own. The longer Beatrice lay spooned against her, the more relaxed Ava had become, but she could feel Beatrice’s body becoming increasingly stiff against her back. “I can go back to my bed like a big girl if this is … weird, for you. I know I have … boundary issues, so…”</p><p>“It’s not that,” Beatrice interjected on a sigh. “It’s not you,” she continued, closing her eyes. “It’s … the story I read to you, about Warrior Nun Melanie,” she explained awkwardly. “How she was … <em>lesbisch</em>,” Beatrice stated, the word seeming to stick in her throat. “It’s also what … why,” she paused, taking in a releasing a deep breath. “It’s how I came to the church.”</p><p>With that said, Beatrice began to unfurl her arm from around Ava’s waist, ready to give the other woman some space and hoping that the revelation wouldn’t cause Ava to flee from the bed entirely. She was happy, honoured even that Ava felt protected by her, and she hoped Ava knew that she would always behave honourably.</p><p>Ava squeezed Beatrice’s hand comfortingly, and then pressed down on it gently, pressing Beatrice’s hand more firmly against her stomach to halt Beatrice’s withdrawal.</p><p>“I had ... inferred that,” Ava breathed softly, stroking the back of Beatrice’s hand with her thumb as she held it against her stomach. “I meant what I said then. Who you are is beautiful. So, stay put,” Ava said, stroking Beatrice’s hand again to reassure her.  </p><p>“You’re sure?” Beatrice asked.</p><p>“Very,” Ava stated confidently.</p><p>“You’re really not hesitant? At all? About laying here with me?” Beatrice asked, still not quite able to make sense of Ava’s easy acceptance of her sexuality and Ava’s willingness to remain physically close to her even though Ava knew the truth about her.</p><p>“Hesitant?” Ava huffed, shaking her head as she spoke to emphasize how ridiculous that was. “It was my idea, remember?” she continued, reluctantly letting go of Beatrice’s hand for a moment so that she could turn over and face the other woman. “Seriously,” Ava said, “There is literally no place I would rather be than right here,” <em>wrapped in your strong, badass arms</em>, she mentally added.</p><p>“Okay,” Beatrice replied softly, still confused but willing to trust that Ava meant what she said. </p><p>“Wonderful,” Ava declared, “it’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” she continued, smiling brightly when Beatrice released an amused huff and shook her head at her.</p><p>Ava would have happily stayed right where she was, falling asleep to the sight of Beatrice’s beautiful face, but even she, monumental dumbass that she was, knew that doing that would definitely be weird, so she reluctantly returned to her original position on the bed, giving her back to Beatrice again to spoon.</p><p>“I get it, you know,” Ava began once they had both settled. </p><p>“Get it?” Beatrice asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Ava murmured. “You know ... girls.” </p><p>“Girls?” Beatrice’s brows creased with confusion.</p><p>“Yeah like, liking girls. Like romantically liking girls, not just ‘we should hang out sometime’ liking girls … though, that too. Not that I have experience with either really, but that’s mostly because there weren’t many eligible bachelorettes wandering around the orphanage looking for quadriplegics with a killer smile and an extensive knowledge of <em>Golden Girls</em> trivia … shocking, I know,” Ava rambled, knowing that she was rambling the whole time she was rambling, but powerless to stop it. “So, just … know, you know. That it’s cool, we’re cool … because me too, with girls … and such,” Ava concluded confusedly, uncertain how or why her brain would choose those words to come out of her mouth, and in that order. </p><p>She was a disaster of a person, she really was.</p><p>Beatrice’s body shook lightly against Ava’s back and Ava squeezed her eyes shut, mortified because she knew that Beatrice was trying to stop herself from laughing at Ava’s truly pathetic attempt at verbal communication.</p><p>“Shut up,” Ava muttered self-consciously, shoving her elbow back into Beatrice's stomach lightly, the move designed to show irritation and not honestly cause Beatrice any discomfort.</p><p>“I didn’t say anything,” Beatrice murmured, her voice steady though Ava could still feel little ripples moving through her body.</p><p>“You didn’t have to,” Ava grumbled. “I can feel you laughing.”</p><p>“Well, technically what you’re feeling is me trying <em>not</em> to laugh,” Beatrice began.</p><p>“Shut Up Vol. 2,” Ava grumbled good-naturedly before Beatrice could continue. “I just shared something really personal with you … or at least, you know, I tried to,” Ava added, knowing that there had definitely been some word soup throughout her rambles that could have been difficult to fully follow.</p><p>“I know,” Beatrice acknowledged softly, all traces of amusement gone from her voice, her body still and comforting against Ava’s back once again. “I promise it is safe with me … as are you,” Beatrice swore softly, drawing a smile to Ava’s lips and creating a yearning in her heart.</p><p>“Do you …” Ava began.</p><p>“Go to sleep.”</p><p>“But…I have thoughts--”</p><p>“Think of sheep and count them until you’re asleep.”</p><p>“--questions,” Ava continued as if Beatrice hadn’t spoken. </p><p>She had a lot of questions actually. Very Important Questions like: ‘Do you know how amazing you are?’ and ‘Can I kiss you?’ and ‘If Mary and Shannon could, then you and I can too, right?’ and so, so many other things.</p><p>“And I’ll be here in the morning to listen to them,” Beatrice said gently, because it was true, but also because she needed time to process everything they had talked about before she felt ready to discuss what it all could lead to. “I’ll always be here,” she promised, pausing thoughtfully for a moment before leaning forward and placing a soft, chaste kiss on Ava’s bare shoulder.  “Now, go to sleep. Please.”</p><p>“Okay,” Ava whispered, smiling to herself as she remembered the feel of Beatrice’s lips on her skin.  “Thank you for the spooning,” she continued, feeling very proud of herself when Beatrice chuckled softly.  “And, for the record,” Ava went on, and Beatrice groaned, her arm unconsciously tightening around Ava’s waist. “You are very cute and I ‘like like’ you. You don’t have to say anything back,” she continued quickly. “I just wanted you to kno...”</p><p>Ava's words were interrupted as Beatrice’s hand began to tickle her, making her wiggle and squirm as she laughed helplessly.</p><p>“Okay, okay, I get it,” Ava said, wrestling with Beatrice’s hand to get it to stop, and then placing it back on her stomach where it had been resting before.  “I’ll go to sleep. I promise.”</p><p>“Thank you,” Beatrice breathed out, giving Ava a moment to find a comfortable position again before she shifted closer to, snuggling in against her back. “And,” she added softly, her voice little more than a whisper, “for the record, I ‘like like’ you too.”</p><p><br/>
The End</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hoped you enjoyed my first foray into exploring these wonderful, adorable, badasses. Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome, and greatly appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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